Editorial: Build RSC budgets using stable funding sources
Service commission's proposed 2024 budget based largely on potentially short-term funding streams
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The Greater Miramichi Regional Service Commission is putting the cart before the horse by building half its proposed 2024 budget using precarious funding streams from the provincial and federal governments.
The RSC is expecting Miramichi, Doaktown, the Greater Miramichi rural district, and the Alnwick, Upper Miramichi, and Miramichi River Valley rural communities to cover 42 per cent of its $6.14-million spending plan for next year, with the rest coming from other funding streams.
We understand why the service commission, and member communities, want to stretch taxpayers’ dollars as far as possible, but some of the additional programs may only be short-term. One of them is a regional services support fund that’s only available for 2024 to offset the costs of implementing the regional strategies required by the province for all 12 RSCs during municipal reforms.
Another one is a local governance reform implementation fund, a multi-year program aimed at helping RSCs pay for their new mandated services.
Several Miramichi-area mayors and municipal officials have expressed concerns that the additional funding sources aren’t guaranteed to last forever, and their own bottom lines would suffer if the provincial and federal streams dry up. Funding for municipalities has already been reduced to support the service commissions’ increased responsibilities.
We agree with mayors and municipal staff that secure funding sources should be in place before money from potentially short-lived programs is spent on building new departments and hiring more staff.
Service commissions should use more reliable funding sources in their budgets to prevent charging member communities higher premiums in the future.
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